£80,000 raised by RoKart with the support of Northamptonshire Law Society

£80,000 raised by RoKart with the support of Northamptonshire Law Society

The Rotary Club of Nene Valley have organised Rokart for 8 years. In that time, they have raised over £80,000 for local charities. Shoosmiths have been involved since the first event in 2016. In 2017 they were joined by BMTC, Tollers, Hawsons and Wilson Browne, and a heat was specifically devoted to members of NLS. In recent years they have been joined by 12 legal firms most recently Fullers Family law and Franklins. The winner of the heat takes the trophy and title of ‘Fastest Law Firm in Northampton’ together with a place in the grand final with the other heat winners.

This year the heat had to be postponed when changes in temperature and high humidity made the track slippery and dangerous, finally getting underway on 12th March. Unfortunately, this postponement meant that defending champions DFA Law and a couple of the Shoosmiths teams had to withdraw due to team absences, but it proved to be the quickest of all the NLS heats. Tollers won with 277 laps ahead of Shoosmiths 274.

Organiser from Nene Valley Rotary Club, Neil Hufton, observed “the support over the years says something about the legal firms in Northampton. They are either very sporty, great at supporting charities or maybe they are just competitive or perhaps adversarial! Each year the Northamptonshire Law Society heat has been somewhat eventful with more yellow and red flags than any other heat. This year was a much cleaner event and as a result all the teams completed more laps”. Neil also commented “one of the joys of the NLS heat is that it is not just about the winning, as the newcomers also have a good night. They might start tentatively but can produce some surprisingly good times. This year Hawsons and Franklins had laps below 24 secs similar to the winners and Fullers were only a second behind.”

The trophy was presented by this year’s President, Maurice Muchinda, who commented “it looked a lot of fun with the teams rather competitive-I hope I can actually take part next year!” There is also a rumour that VP Sarah Franklin might also be interested!

It was good to see past president Oliver Spicer back on the track in a later heat with his own team from Daimler Trucks.

Tollers competed in the Final on April 2nd with the winners of all heats. There are some very experienced and regular Go karters in a couple of these teams and it was a remarkable race. The first 3 teams completed 295 laps and the gap between first and second (David Smith Associates and Wheel2Wheel ) was less than half a second after 2 hours’ racing. Tollers finished fifth with 291 laps, which is a further improvement on their 285 laps in 2023 and is a new NLS record. They are getting closer and closer to the podium.

David Harding, President of NVRC this year, would like to thank NLS members for their support “of course the real winners in Rokart are the local charities we support. This year we raised a further £8,500 that will help The Lewis Foundation and Eve, the women’s refuge in Northampton. Our Rotary Club are undertaking a major refurbishment project of their premises, installing new windows, new carpets and redecorating inside and outside. This is a 2-year project costing over £40,000 and Rokart makes a huge contribution to meeting these costs. We really are indebted to the support we receive from yourselves and hope that you will be with us next year. “

Details and entry forms for Rokart 2025 will be available in September.